Ruinous Fortune

Well, well, well...

Tower was watching the young Queen of Swords being greeted by the more affable members of the family.

His greeting would come when the others had cleared out of the way. He could wait.

Tower knew how to wait; he always knew it would be his turn eventually.

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The Five of Pentacles copied Tower by standing back, nodding now and then. A card of loss, One Crow knew it was best to simply look on and let others come to her.

One did: Journey. The cat-eyed ferryman and his lynx were passing by when he spotted Tower and One Crow.

"Come! This is a day for celebration!" He eyed One Crow. "There's no need to mope!"

"You would if you knew why I did," One Crow said somberly.

Journey did know, of course, and he patted her on her shoulder. "Cheer up sister; there'll be others! Now come on! It's time to dance!"

And Journey was gone, lost amongst the throng.

Replaced by someone from a neighbouring realm.

Dog.

The Golden Retriever wagged her tail, barking happily, then dashing off after Journey and his feline companion.

One Crow sighed at the scene, wishing she could be this happy.

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Tower turned to her. "Each to their own, sister," he shrugged. "It is their privilege to know those things that will be greeted gladly while we, just as needed for the smooth tunning of the world, have uphill work ahead always until our gifts are accepted for what they are."

Never would he agree that he, or even the 'darkest' of his siblings, was entirely an ill omen - no more than a responsible tarot reader ld ever claim that. Now, being ill-aspected was something else entirely, but it could happen to any of them. Even the brightest, like the young Queen of Swords there.

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"No one ever accepts loss," One Crow pointed out. "No one ever likes a sudden shock."

A sigh. She looked over at the gathering. Dog was, when not running about barking madly, giving them a "come over and join the party!" look. Normally a being who was prone to worry Dog was instead having the time of her life. The astrological entities rarely had such opportunities to celebrate, being fewer in number than the cards.

She barked. "This is a fortuitous day! Come!"

"In a moment, Dog."

She examined a feather that had become dislodged and she fixed it back into place.

"We are necessary and needed, but we are under-appreciated."

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"Nobody apreciates that which dislodges them from their familiar perch," Tower shrugged. "That's our destiny, my dear sister."

Among the Minor Arcana, Misery was one of those closer to him - misery and penury were one of the things that would precipitate painful but necessary change.

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She stared at the ground, a familiar voice in her mind. One that had been in her mind for days. The reason why she chose not to mingle and subject the new-born Queen of Swords to something Mary Anne didn't deserve to have thrust upon her.

"Why is it that, when I'm with you Triz, I'm never as happy as others are? I should be, but I'm not."

"Security is paramount to the happy sentient Tower, we both know this."

But so much of happiness was illusion. It was their job to clear away the illusions and bring the sentients back into reality—no matter how harsh it was to them.

Which would lead them to be cursed, even if the ones receiving the rude awakening did not know who they were angry at.

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"And we have been doing this down many ages of many worlds," he agreed, nodding. "Dragging them kicking and screaming off the trees in the first place, as it were, down the course of their history, pushing them off their high horses more times than we can hope to count."

Sometimes, they had had to be truly brutal indeed.

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"And always with the same results. It's as if they are stuck in a constant state of misplaced optimism."

A look at the happy people that milled about.

This conversation should be taken outside, and she indicated a door that, through a winding stairway, led to the outside of the castle. Of course, they did not have to go outside, just into the stairwell itself.

They could come back later; they just needed to do what they could to keep the tone upbeat.

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Tower turned to follow her; he would return later to talk to the new Queen of Swords, she who had arrived at the good end of change, of which he ruled the painful beginning.

"Let us lurk in a corner," he said, "instead of being the skeletons at the feast. Optimism is an addiction to the sentients, I fear."

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And One Crow, who symbolised the initial feelings of loss that change brings with it. Loss and regret, though regret was the purvue of the fifth Cup-sibling, not the fifth child in the Pentacles family.

"Of course."

Away from the festivities they could indulge their notoriously somber attitudes without upsetting aanyone else in the process.

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And while she was waiting, Balance looked over at Tower. A smile for him, but Emilie gets down off her lap and toddles over.

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Oh - a youngling! Young ones still had all the cards - change was as natural to them as breathing, and as inevitable. Only when they grew older and learned of the pain of loss would they start to cling with true refusal.

Some of Tower's sister and brothers were accompanied by pets or children; you always took them seriously, as they were a necessary part of that archetype.

"Greetings, little one," Tower said, regarding the child with curiosity.

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Balance is dreams and reality, imagination and cloud-castles. And don't most little girls dream of a baby to call their own?

Still, Emilie is real flesh and blood, and he gives his uncle a little smile. Fair hair, fairer then his mother's, although he has her sea-green, sea-blue eyes.

"'ello."

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And before his eyes, Tower shifted to beome a child himself; this was the sort of child who pulled out the bottom can of tinned pears from a huuuge pyramid in a shop and smiled angelically at the result...

"Let's go see what else is here," he suggested. "Not just grown-ups talking."

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Emilie stares, and then laughs.

"Yes! It's boring."

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"There's lots and lots of fun stuff in this place!" Tower laughed. "Food. Animals. Paints. Scary things. Squishy things you can poke. Gloopy things you can make a mess with," he offered, innocently.

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Emilie's eyes bright, and Balance sighs.

"Tower..."

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"Balance?" he said, smiling up at her innocently.

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Sweetly,

"If he gets his pants dirty..."

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Carelessly, "It's not my fault if he still gets his pants dirty."

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"That isn't what I meant, and you know it."

She eyes them both, and then waves.

"Fine, fine."

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"We'll be seeing you, then!" Tower said, taking the little boy by the hand.

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Half of Balance thinks this is a bad idea.

The other thinks that it could be fun.

All of her watches them go, before drifting to do something else. Distraction is the key.

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